Bad Deeds for 3-30-07

Tom DeLay Wants to Keep Right-Wing Extremists in Charge of the Republican Party – On a Dallas radio show, DeLay remarked of the GOP, “…If we don’t [come together], then the more moderate members of the party, like Giuliani … or McCain will emerge…” DeLay also called Democrats “thugs.”

More on Use of General Services Administration to Influence 2008 Elections – The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked Wednesday why Lurita Doan, administrator of the General Services Administration, allowed a White House aide to brief her managers on the Republican Party’s prospects for 2008. Doan has also raised $200,000 for the Republican Party. GSA is the government’s landlord and office supplier. Six other political appointees at GSA recalled that when Jennings finished speaking, Doan herself stood up to talk. Braley said, “and according to those sources, you stated, ‘How can we use GSA to help our candidates in the next election?’ P.S. Check the graphics ; Nick Lampson is #1 on the Top 20 Democratic targets.

Ex-Aide Rejects Gonzales’s Claims on Prosecutor Firings – Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, yesterday testified that he consulted regularly with the attorney general over a two-year period about the plan to fire eight federal prosecutors considered insufficiently loyal to President Bush, contradicting Gonzales’s public claims that his role was limited. Sampson’s testimony – which yielded 122 instances of memory lapse – was briefly interrupted midway when Republicans objected that the hearing violated Senate rules. NY Times story

Ex-Gonzales Aide Sampson Admits Lam Was Never Confronted on Immigration– Kyle Sampson admits that Carol Lam was never told of the Justice Department’s disaffection with her performance on immigration prosecutions, the supposed reason for her firing.

Key Rove aide identified in US Attorney investigation to step down; Could face subpoena – A top aide to President George W. Bush’s key adviser Karl Rove will soon step down from her job in the White House. The aide, Sara M. Taylor, was identified in yesterday’s hearing with a former top Justice Department official as seeking the resignation of a US Attorney in Arkansas.

Former Rove assistant connected with Abramoff case – The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today requested that former Special Assistant to the President, Susan Ralston, appear at a deposition on Apr. 5th, as part of the committee’s ongoing investigation into the connection between the White House and lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Ralston, who was a deputy to White House Adviser Karl Rove between 2001 and 2006, appeared frequently in emails collected in the case. The Committee found that Ralston had 69 contacts with Abramoff or his associates during that time

Bush’s Birth Control Appointee at HHS Abruptly Resigns After Medicaid Takes Action Against Him
Dr. Eric Keroack, the anti-contraception advocate picked last year by President Bush to run the federal office tasked with providing American women access to birth control at Health and Human Services, resigned unexpectedly yesterday after Medicaid officials took action against him in Massachusetts. The Health and Human Services Department provided no details about the nature of the Massachusetts action that led to Keroack’s resignation.

Antarctic Ice Sheet is Thinning – A Texas-sized piece of the Antarctic ice sheet is thinning, possibly due to global warming, and could cause the world’s oceans to rise significantly, polar ice experts said on Wednesday. They said “surprisingly rapid changes” were occurring in Antarctica’s Amundsen Sea Embayment, which faces the southern Pacific Ocean. The scientists blamed the melting ice on changing winds around Antarctica that they said were causing warmer waters to flow beneath ice shelves. The wind change, they said, appeared to be the result of several factors, including global warming, ozone depletion in the atmosphere and natural variability.

Democratic Headquarters Burglarized in Minnesota, New Hampshire and Ohio – Has anyone seen G. Gordon Liddy recently?

US Continues to Alienate More Countries – Saudi King condemns U.S. occupation of Iraq and cancels a mid-April White House gala.

FOX News Blames Democrats for British Captives in Iran – Last night’s Hannity & Colmes (3/29/07) was replete with claims that Democrats and the Democratic Congress were to blame for emboldening Iran into seizing the 15 British sailors and marines. But the slimiest was conservative radio talk show host Bill Cunningham’s statement, “I love Guantanamo.” “You’re a great American,” Hannity told him. Video available on the link above.

Fox News Misrepresents Sampson Testimony In Favor Of Gonzales and Bush Administration – On 3/29/07, a news break segment on Fox News neglected to mention that Kyle Sampson, the former Chief of Staff to US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, directly contradicted Gonzales in testimony before Congress today. What did get reported distorted Sampson’s testimony to make it sound as though Sampson had supported the claims of his former boss. Video available on the link above.

Fox News Says Attacking Iran Would be “Short-Lived” — it Might Even Bring Down Interest Rates! – Fox’s “money guy,” Neil Cavuto, held a roundtable discussion today (March 29, 2007) about what the “fallout for the stock market” would be if “diplomacy” with Iran “fails,” and “the military option then becomes inevitable.” According to his panelists, it wouldn’t be that big a deal. According to one panelist, “Most people know that if we had some kind of skirmish it would be short-lived. Now, there will be oil disruption and the Gulf of Hormuz controls a lot of oil traffic, so that would be temporary, but only temporary. So, you could have a spike in oil and the impact would be very short-lived, so it’s not going to have an impact.” Another responded, “”The only positive in all of this Neil, is that if we do have higher gas prices and oil prices, inflation will become a problem and the Fed will cut interest rates.”

Giuliani knew of aide’s alleged mob ties – “Rudolph W. Giuliani told a grand jury that his former chief investigator remembered having briefed him on some aspects of Bernard B. Kerik’s relationship with a company suspected of ties to organized crime before Mr. Kerik’s appointment as New York City police commissioner

Fox debate questions: When did you stop beating your wife? – The link below has actual questions from an October 2003 Debate in Detroit sponsored by Fox News and the Congressional Black Caucus. Unfavored candidates like General Wesley Clark and John Edwards were asked questions with negative connotations like why you were fired or why are your poll numbers so low or why are you wrong. More favored candidates like Joseph Lieberman were asked questions like what’s wrong with everyone else. Read the actual questions at the link below:

Here’s a good thing: Nancy Pelosi’s blog:

Regards,

Jim